Sweet As Candy
by Thorn In Your Side
Summary: Not all siblings are born. Some are made.


**Sweet as Candy **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. **

**A/N: Tell me it's not cheesy. **

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

The city was drowning that night. The gods pissed down rain in torrential wetness and the ill-paved streets sloshed with murky water. Electrical lines had taken damage and the cit was dark in a lot of places.

His voice dropped on her ears like cold metal. "I have great faith in your ability to slip through crevices, Rukia."

She held her sword as steady as a rock. "Nii-sama has an insult for every occasion."

Since Byakuya took Gin's Shinsou for her, their relationship had changed. He had allowed it. He'd grown warmer to her, and she'd grown less intimidated. Rukia wasn't much like Hisana—he saw her with her friends and she was loud, boisterous. A cute little girl. He started to listen, and reply, when she talked. She rewarded his attention with a beaming smile and more stories to share, more questions to ask.

Was he becoming a brother?

His zanpakutou was sheathed; he stood a few steps behind her. Rukia struggled to find the arrancar's reiatsu, but Byakuya wouldn't give her a hint. This was a test.

Her closed eyes flew open and she took off down an apparently random street. He followed closely, noting the comfort with which she handled Sode no Shirayuki even as she ran.

Rukia was looking for a promotion.

Okay so **_technically _**she was looking for a huge hollow hybrid, but he would be reviewing her performance to determine whether she could be promoted to a seat. It was customary for the captain of the division to accompany her, but Jyuushiro was sick again and Byakuya had been asked to step in. Family members were not usually allowed to help judge tests but anyone who accused Kuchiki Byakuya of partiality had obviously never met the man. She'd have a tougher time with him than with Jyuushiro.

The 13th Division captain would watch the whole exercise later. A few hellmoths were recording it. Rukia stopped and Byakuya watched her sneak an attack.

One night not too long ago she'd been waiting outside his chambers when he returned from work. Desperation and drink had imbued her with the courage to rebuke her honorable brother.

"In all these years, you've never once looked at me! I admire you so much, I fear you so much…nii-sama, I respect you. Please return the favor."

She was a person, not an expensive carpet he'd brought into his home to shield from the weather. He'd fed her and clothed her and kept her safe but she had a soul that needed feeding too.

"Sode no Shirayuki: first dance. Tsukishiro!"

He observed with approval in the here and now as the most beautiful zanpakutou in Soul Society took on its first form. He felt Senbonzakura thrum in its scabbard, as though feeling kinship with Rukia's gorgeous white soul-cutter. It seemed the Kuchiki family was gaining something of a reputation for making death esthetically palatable.

Blood drained from her midriff, washed clean of her body by the hard acid rain. An emotion woke up in his heart: something to do the effect of wanting her _not to be hurt. _He shrugged it off. He wasn't **_that _**much of a brother to her. Not yet.

Besides, Rukia had wanted this. Renji was his vice-captain and Ichigo was a freak. They were both so much more capable than her and she couldn't stand it. A competitive wraith had possessed her, and she was determined to gain rank. Her brother had been obliged to withdraw the request he'd made her captain agree to. Rukia was eligible for promotion.

If one loses, one must lose thoroughly. Byakuya went one better, he turned it into something he'd wanted all along. He set a high goal for her as opposed to goal at all: his grandfather had wanted command of the Sixth Division to reside with the Kuchiki clan head. When Byakuya passed away…Rukia might be a good replacement.

(Nepotism. Seireitei's noble families couldn't do without it.)

The arrancar flashed a bright blue on astral planes beyond mortal sight and disappeared. Rukia groaned. Her opponent had been leading her in this chase for the better part of the night. She hunkered down to find him again, eyes closed and sensing spiritual pressure.

Byakuya's was the strongest, a thick hot soup all around her even in its suppressed state. Rukia had grown used to it, even fond of it. Her stoic brother had a warm soul, and that pleased her.

The arrancar's reiatsu was weaker than his, but still strong enough to pose a challenge for her. She wondered if Byakuya's presence was scaring it into running. Should she ask him to stand further away…?

No.

He comforted her.

Before Aizen Sousuke's betrayal he had terrified her, this same man. Intense, cold, noble and her nii-sama. She used to flinch when imagining Hisana's face, wondering if he avoided her gaze because it made him relive the pain of losing his wife. If that was so, why had he adopted her? Had he expected her to assuage his grief? Had she failed him?

After he told her the truth about Hisana, he had held her hand. That's when Rukia knew: she loved him. Intense, cold and noble he may be but there was unspeakable tenderness in him when he visited his parents' grave, or knelt at the small altar he'd made for his wife. Rukia wanted to be worthy of that tenderness. She wanted him to accept her as his imouto—his baby sister.

So. He'd taken her hand, and there was some tenderness in his grip. There was some tenderness in his eyes. Rukia had promised herself to never disobey him. Her nii-sama was her life. Her **_family. _**

Her nii-sama grew impatient behind her. "Having trouble, Rukia?"

Arrancar.

…Arrancar! Dammit, Rukia, how much time did you just waste?

"No, nii-sama. I found it."

There were off again in pursuit.

Rukia faced him before they approached close to their prey. "Please, nii-sama. Will you watch from afar? Your reiatsu is prolonging this encounter."

He looked at her, and she was Rukia. Her voice was still polite, but it had stopped sniveling like it used to when speaking to him. There was still a long way to go before she'd be running into his inner rooms without permission in the morning haze, warning "Byakuya-nii, Yoruichi-san is coming to wake you!" but they were on the right track for it to happen.

"Rukia, I will stay right behind you. Are you saying you can't handle it?"

She frowned. "Ukitake-taichou always kept his distance during practice—he said we should act as if were alone, unaided and unhindered by the judge."

"Act, then. I am not Ukitake-sempai and I will not be able to see how you are doing if I'm hiding my reiatsu in the alley."

The frown turned into a pout and elongated into something uglier before clearing off from her face. A sense of purpose strode solemnly over her when she faced the fallen soul.

"There will be no more running," she told it, "This is the last round."

There wasn't. Rukia's small form enabled her to be stunningly quick if she chose, and she chose now. The hole in the hollow's heart was gaping by normal standards: Rukia shunpo'd through its numerous arms to crouch in that hole and thrust her zanpakutou up into its head. She then leapt out, bringing her blade with her as the arrancar was purified into spiritrons.

"Impressive use of shunpo," Byakuya began his assessment, "But there openings in earlier rounds where kido might've done the job. I'm cutting marks for that."

She sighed. Walking back to his side, she put Sode no Shirayuki away and listened to him talk.

"There was minimal damage to the surroundings. Your soul sensing was above average…you were calm enough throughout the mission. I suppose you **_did _**challenge my authority…" he paused to drink in her indignant face, "…I count that under initiative because you followed orders in the end. All in all, a satisfactory performance. I will not oppose your promotion." He touched her shoulder, and her eyes glazed over with happiness. "I am proud of you, Rukia."

She wrapped her arms around his midriff. He was vastly astonished for a second, and then had the presence of mind—voluntary reflex—to put both his hands on her back.

"Thank you, nii-sama," her voice was muffled and amused against his robes. "Your faith in my ability to slip through crevices gave me strength to slip into his hole."

A smile swept his mouth. "You're welcome, imouto-san. And you thought I was insulting you. As. If."

Was he becoming a brother?

Heavens, he hoped so.

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

**You will not _believe _how much I wrestled with the idea of leaving the line 'He looked at her, and she was Rukia.' Torture, it was. **


End file.
